The present invention relates generally to image reproduction systems particularly with regards to paper stock selection in printers and copiers. More particularly, this invention relates to guiding customers or operators in the selection of paper stock available in a given machine.
Many conventional image reproducing systems, such as copiers or printers, use multiple stocks. Stocks constitute various printing substrates, such as paper, on which printed matter is printed. Stocks may vary as to thickness, width, length, color, material composition and a plethora of other characteristics.
In many conventional image reproducing systems, an operator must be aware of what stocks are available for use with the system. The operator must manually place the stocks into the paper tray for the system and program the paper tray accordingly. Often times, an operator must take a physical inventory of the stocks that are available in a given print shop in order to be aware of what stocks are available. Unfortunately, a print shop may have 1000 or more items of stock. As such, identifying stocks, determining what stocks to use and programming the paper trays is often cumbersome for an operator.
For some image reproduction systems, much of the identifying and determining of available stock is automated for the operator. However, when there is a failure of a stock attribute match in such a system a media fault indication is provided to the operator. For example, one such system provides about twelve different media attributes that a customer programs on a job and that the printer operator programs on the media loaded into a paper tray. When a job requests a media with attributes that fail to match all attributes on a media loaded into one of the printer""s trays, the printer raises a media fault. The operator is then required to manually compare the programmed job and tray media attributes to determine which attributes do not match. With twelve or more media attributes in each list, detecting the differences can be time consuming. It is desirable to minimize the impact of time and the confusion that a multiplicity of such media stock can create for an operator.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,669 to Imada, the invention described discloses a calculation unit for comparing specific paper attributes is stored in a nonvolatile memory with the detection results of cassettes. The unit checks whether the specific paper attributes coincide with the detection results, and calculates the weighted points for each matched item. A selection unit compares the calculated values, to select a paper feed cassette most suitable for the specific paper attributes. The results are arranged to numerically evaluate the paper feed cassettes, in this way preferentially selecting the suitable paper feed cassette. Operation keys for setting specific paper attributes are arranged to change specific paper attributes to be preferentially selected. Therefore, in a power-ON or a paper empty state, paper which is required by a user is preferentially selected from a plurality of paper feed means to decrease operations for selecting paper, thus, improving operability.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,356,719 to Yoshiura, the invention described discloses an image forming device as a digital composite machine which provides a plurality of image input modes in which image information is inputted in different forms, respectively. The image forming device is provided with (1) feed devices for supplying a plurality of types of recording materials, (2) a display device for displaying information regarding recording materials which are ready to be fed from the feed devices, (3) mode keys for selecting one from among the plurality of image input modes, (4) selecting keys for selecting one recording material on which image information is to be recorded, from among the recording materials displayed by the display device, (5) a recording section for recording image information inputted in the mode selected through the mode keys, onto the recording material selected through the selecting keys, and (6) a CPU for determining information regarding the recording materials to be displayed by the display section, depending on the mode selected. This arrangement ensures that the image forming device is capable of recording for reproduction of inputted images on suitable recording materials, selecting recording materials so as to be suitable to the input modes, respectively, and at every mode setting, displaying and selecting information regarding suitable recording materials in appropriate forms.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,229,814 to Hube et al., the invention described discloses a process for operating an electronic printing system at a job site for producing print jobs from image signals, the electronic printing system having programming means for inputting printing instructions for the print jobs and a plurality of supply trays for supplying print media, including the steps of: identifying stock characteristics currently available for loading in the print media supply trays when printing the print jobs; identifying stock characteristics potentially selectable but not available at the site for loading in the print media supply trays; mapping individual ones of the unavailable stock characteristics with at least one of the available stock characteristics; on input of a print job, comparing a requested stock characteristic of the print job with the stock characteristics available; and where the requested stock characteristic is unavailable, using the mapping step to substitute a corresponding available stock characteristic for the unavailable, requested stock characteristic.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,732 to Myers et al., the invention described discloses a stock library which contains objects that encapsulate attributes of respective stocks that may be used in an image reproducing apparatus. The objects may include visual representations, such as icons, for representing the stocks. A stock library window may display the icons and selected attributes of the stocks to provide a visual catalog of the stocks that are available to an operator. The visual representations may be dragged and dropped to program paper trays, select stocks for print jobs and provide other behavior.
All of the above are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety for their teaching.
Therefore, as discussed above, there exists a need for a methodology to minimize the impact of decision time and the confusion for an operator, that a multiplicity of media stock, across multiple jobs can create. Thus, it would be desirable to solve this and other deficiencies and disadvantages with an improved methodology for solving stock media faults.
The present invention relates to a method of controlling paper stock fault recovery in an image reproduction system for producing a print job from electronic data in accordance with job requirements calling for a desired stock having one or more selected stock attributes. The method comprises determining if the desired stock having the one or more selected stock attributes is available. If the desired stock is not available, indicate a mismatch, query a stock tray, and display those stock tray attributes which do not match the job requirements.
In particular, the present invention relates to a method of controlling paper stock fault recovery in an image reproduction system for producing a print job from electronic data in accordance with job requirements calling for a desired stock having one or more selected stock attributes, the system including an interactive user interface enabling a system user to input operating instructions to the system. The method comprises determining if the desired stock having the one or more selected stock attributes is available. If the desired stock is not available, indicate a mismatch. Then query a stock tray and display for the queried stock tray those stock tray attributes which do not match the one or more selected stock attributes called for by the job requirements.
The present invention also relates to a method of controlling paper stock fault recovery in an image reproduction system for producing a print job from electronic data in accordance with job requirements calling for a desired stock having one or more selected stock attributes, the system including an interactive user interface enabling a system user to input operating instructions to the system. The method comprises determining if the desired stock having the one or more selected stock attributes is available. Then if the desired stock is determined as not available, opening a pop-up window and indicating a mismatch in the pop-up window as having occurred. This is followed with providing selectable buttons for each stock tray in the pop-up window, so as to allow querying a stock tray, and displaying for the queried stock tray, those stock tray attributes which do not match the one or more selected stock attributes called for by the job requirements.